The present invention relates to a hair brush with a plurality of bristles, more particularly to a hair brush provided with an extendable combing plate for removing tangled hair strands from the bristles, and specifically to a hair brush which automatically locks the combing plate when depressing a plunger which displaces the combing plate.
As anyone with a hair brush is aware, stray hairs may become entangled in the bristles after extended use. The problem is compounded when brushing the coat of a pet which sheds its hair. Getting the stray hairs from the bristles can be time consuming. In some cases, the user picks the hair out using his or her fingers or using a special tool. However, neither of these methods is entirely satisfactory when stray hairs remain tangled in the bristles. Alternatively, the prior art teaches self-cleaning grooming brushes which clean the bristles either by having them retract into a housing or by pushing the stray hairs off by extending a combing plate over the bristles. Examples of these previously known devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,267,528; 6,427,633; and 6,681,775. However, prior art hair brushes have proven unwieldy in that they require either two hands to extend the combing plate and/or lack an effective mechanism for locking the combing plate into an extended position.
Thus, a need exists for a novel hair brush providing improvement over prior art hair brushes, especially in that the removal of stray hairs from the bristles is more easily facilitated.